{"id":20017856,"date":"2016-03-15T06:54:21","date_gmt":"2016-03-15T06:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=17856"},"modified":"2022-03-17T13:44:03","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T08:14:03","slug":"the-disappearing-morel-mushrooms-of-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/food\/the-disappearing-morel-mushrooms-of-pakistan\/","title":{"rendered":"The disappearing morel mushrooms of Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The morel mushroom has been around for approximately 129 million years<\/a>, growing in moist high altitude forests. It is unappreciated by most animals, except for humans, who enjoy the mushroom as an edible delicacy and for its medicinal properties.<\/a> So much so that it is one of the most expensive vegetables in the world. In the Hindu Kush Himalayas of India and Pakistan \u2013 where they are called gucchi \u2013 the mushroom is worth its weight in gold<\/a>. Poor villagers earn extra income from gathering the rare and valuable resource.<\/p>\n

Empty handed morel mushroom collectors<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Gulshoom Bibi, a 45 year old mother of four, remembers the good old days when she would supplement the income of her family by picking mushrooms from the nearby forest. Her family lives near the National Ayubia Park in Abbottabad, northern Pakistan. Her husband, Muhammad Ashan, is a watchman, who earns PKR 10,000 (USD 94) per month, so the extra income was much needed, but in the last few years the rare mushrooms, and Bibi\u2019s extra income, have virtually disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year in the month of March, my children and I collected between 10 to 15 kgs of morel mushrooms. This generated an additional income of about PKR 50,000 (USD 472), depending on the market rate and quality.\u00a0Unfortunately for the last four \u2013 five years I am only able to find 2 or 3 kgs of the mushrooms,\u201d Gulshoom Bibi told\u00a0thethirdpole.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last year collectors like Bibi found very few mushrooms, and the prices skyrocketed. Gulshoom Bibi received PKR 20,000 (USD 187) for the only 1 kilogramme of mushrooms. This is many times the price that she used to receive in 1999-2000, between PKR 4,000 \u2013 5,000 (USD 38 \u2013 47).<\/p>\n

According to Bibi, the prices have not risen suddenly, but slowly, as the mushrooms have slowly disappeared from the forests. Shazia Sajid, a 50 year old mother of three, is another mushroom collector. She found none this year. The only things that she found were a few flowers of the mushrooms, nothing worth the while to sell.<\/p>\n